Villas-Boas in Zenit boost

Zenit St. Petersburg boss Andre Villas-Boas has been given a boost ahead of the Europa League quarter-final second leg clash with Sevilla.

The Portuguese saw his side take to the field decimated by injuries in the 2-1 first-leg defeat at the Sanchez Pizjuan last week, yet Thursday’s game will see the return of some of his top stars.

“For any Coach unavailable players is a problem. [Aleksandr] Ryazantsev and [Ezequiel] Garay will not play but on the other hand we have Danny, Hulk, [Igor] Smolnikov and [Domenico] Criscito all able to take part,” he told a Press conference.

“It’s important we want to win and we fully understand the significance of this game. We’ll be giving our very best as we are keen to reach the semi-finals.

“I don’t want to talk about Sevilla’s weaknesses but it’s enough to say we’ve studied the enemy. We’ll look to play attacking football based on the fact our key players have returned, but we’re not going to forget about defence because Sevilla famously play on the front foot.

“They play the same system in La Liga and the Europa League, while their emotional, creative football has deserved success.

“This is a very strong tournament where spirit and motivation will also be a factor. Sevilla have a home win but we have an away goal and four players who were absent last week.

“It’s going to be an outstanding match,” he added.

 

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